Major League Baseball has partnered with Uplift Labs, a biomechanics company that says it can document a prospect’s specific movement patterns using just two iPhone cameras. The setup was available for use in evaluating prospects who agree to participate at the MLB draft combine last week in Arizona.
Uplift says it uses artificial intelligence to translate the images captured by the phone cameras into metrics that can quantify elements of player movement. It believes the data it generates can detect player’s flaws, forecast their potential and, possibly, flag their potential for injury.
“We have metrics on things like kinematic sequence, stride length, ball contact timing,” said Sukemasa Kabayama, who founded Uplift in 2017. “At the same time, we also have this new kind of very early injury warning detection. Let’s say if you have too much of an arm flare, you know there may be potential overload on the elbow, which can unfortunately lead to Tommy John surgery.”
